The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-04-04
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REBELlIoN IN vASSAR.
The Girls say they viii Wear Gowns
and caps;-The Faculty Say they
Shall Not.-ominous Threats from
Fair Undergraduates

NasSar girls contemplate new declara-
tion of independence. The members of the
three lower classes of the college have
grievance which has brought about cool
ness between the undergraduates and facul-
ty 1t has existed for some time says the
New York World, but the strained relations
are likely to develop into "a condition Of at
fairs little short of open rebellion. mat
ter of dress is what has brought about all
this fuss, and the girls propose to show DR..
Taylor, the new president, and his associ-
ates that when woman will she will, even
though she is young woman.
1t wasn't so many years ago that the very
existence of Vassar was threatened by
lively agitation over the question Of femi-
nine costume. But then it was the "sweet
girl graduates" who kicked up all the fuss
because somebody objected to the peculiar
style of dress they proposed to adopt for
commencement. 1t is only the juniors, soph-
ignores and freshmen who figure as rebels.
West Point is only short distance from
PoughBeepsie and the cadets at the military
academy and the Vassar girls have long been
regarded as allies. That the latter should
betray fondness if not even a weakness,
for uniforms might be thought pardonable
were it not for the fact that a popular i'm
| preston exists that when a young woman
enters Vassar she is supposed to leave all
her romance at home. 1t is barely possible
that glimpses of the uniforms worn at the
River view military academy, seen through
the hedges that shut VaSSar out from the
world, when the cadets condescend to exhib-
1t themselves from time to time, may have
inspired the Vassar girls to banker after
some insignia by which they can be distin
guished from the other pretty girls of
Poughkeepsie. At any rate, they want to
adopt uniform, but the faculty won't have
it. That Is what all this tempest in tea
pot" is about The young women are mad
because this lastpet scheme of theirs has
been so disdainfully treated.
Some time sago committee waited upon
President Taylor and requested him to ask
the faculty to recommend the adoption of
the cap and gown, such as is worn by the
students of English universities. He told
them frankly that he did not think it was
necessary. 1t is reported that he cited pas
sages Of Scripture in answer to the petition
and entreatleS of his fair charges to point out
what awful things happen to people whose
pride conquers them. There is no secret
that he did actually tell the committee that
donnlng the cap and gown would make them
was too much for the Vassar girls Of spirit,
and they determined that they would have a
uniform in spite of the president who hasn't
been in the college as long as the sophomores.
Secret meetings were held and some of the
leaders held receptions to further the scheme,
and for several weeks the liveliest sort of
| agitation has been kept up. A powerful
lobby was organized and feminine arts taxed
| to win supporters among the faculty. When
the question finally came up at one of the
weekly meetings of that body the cap and
gown business was voted down by a large
majority. Then an appeal was made to the
trustees, but with no better result.
Though beaten at every point the cherish
ed scheme is by no means abandoned. The
students say they will adopt the uniform any
way. Even if the faculty persist in declin-
ing to indorse it, the girls declare that they
will get as many of the students as they can
to wear the cap and gown, and they defy the
faculty to dictate to them what they shall or
shall not wear They think it is real mean
that Vassar should not respect this relic of
ancient academic tradition when even two
years-old Brsn Mawr, near Philadelphia,
has placed this mark of distinction on her
intellectual charges. That is what makes
the Vassar girls cross all the harder to bear.